In the driver's seat: Choctaw beats district rival FWB 3-1

FORT WALTON BEACH – The first “I believe that we will win” chant gained steam with Fort Walton Beach leading rival Choctaw 17-13 in Thursday's first set.

Soon after, the Vikings nursing a 22-18 advantage on its home court, the red-and-blue-clad student section serenaded the packed Vikings gym with Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”

Choctaw’s student section, despite being outnumbered 3:1, did their best to answer amid a first set that featured too many momentum shifts to count, the Indians fighting off four set points and the Vikings one before Jazyah Jarboe-Alford’s ace capped a 28-26 win.

This, in all its raucous glory, is a rivalry. This is what prep volleyball is about.

Not a coin flip.

A season after a quarter showed up tails and decided Choctaw’s fate as the District 2-7A tournament No. 1 seed and punched the Vikings’ ticket to what would become a semifinal loss to Crestview, the Indians comfortably moved into the district driver’s set with a 26-28, 25-14, 25-20, 25-22 win over the Vikings.

Through two games of district play, the Indians are 2-0 ahead of 1-1 Crestview and the 0-2 Vikings.

“It’s exciting to be 2-0, but we have a lot to work on,” said Kassandra Fairly, whose 16 kills trailed only Melia Lindner’s 18. “We didn’t come close to playing our best, but we got the win.”

Cue Choctaw coach Scott Allen nodding his head.

“We’re happy to be 2-0, but sometimes it’s almost better to play well and get the loss than play poorly and win,” he said. “… We feel like we’re the better team when we go into a match. It’s on us to execute and put our will into the match. We didn’t do that in the first set. We were sloppy and all over the map and that’s what happens when you don’t execute.

"We fixed a couple of things after the first set and we started executing. We didn’t change much, we just started to do what we know how to do.”

The Vikings would argue they should very easily be 2-0 or at least in the hunt for first. A five-set loss at home to Crestview was the first heartbreaker.

Then came Thursday night’s letdown after a gutsy first set.

Up 24-20 on the shoulders of six of a team-high 12 kills from Savannah Bailey, the Vikings could do little as a Lindner kill and block mixed with two Fort Walton Beach unforced errors quashed all four set points.

After Lindner delivered yet another kill, one of her team-high 18, Sarah Duckett answered with one of her seven kills up the middle. Lindner answered again, then it was Duckett’s kill again off one of Carsyn Tillman’s 31 assists to set up Jarboe-Alford’s set-clinching ace.

“It kind of sucked because we felt like we were coming back and then we made some costly errors,” Kassandra said. “I know I did personally with a ball in the net. But it was like, it’s just the first set.”

Like Allen said, the Indians adjusted and began to execute. The defense of Lindsey Legg shined as part of an effort where she delivered 22 digs, Sophie Lea was dishing out clean passes en route to 22 assists and Lindner had seven kills in the second set and Kassandra added five, including the clincher on one of 12 assists from sister Jessie Fairly.

“After the second set we felt in control,” Kassandra said. “But it was still shakier than we want. We just have to clean some things up.”

In the third set, Choctaw trailed 17-16 before Kassandra had back-to-back kills and Bella Teran had back-to-back blocks to set up a 25-20 win. From there it was all a formality, Choctaw jumping out to a 7-4 lead and never trailing afterward in a 25-22 clinching win.

Then came the Choctaw chant "I believe that we just won," which made Choctaw's players smile in the postgame handshake.

Jarboe-Alford led the Vikings with 16 digs to accent eight kills and Zoey Quitugua added 14 digs in a loss that left Fort Walton Beach coach Ashley Miller shaking her head.

“I don’t know what happen to us, but we played outstanding the first set,” Miller said. “I think after the first set, after we lost our momentum we couldn’t do anything to gain it back.”

As for moving forward …

“We just need to stay focused and work on bettering ourselves and worry about our side of the net,” Miller said.